Creativity and Its Neural Correlates

Abstract

Creativity, understood in terms of the ability to generate original, adequate, potentially useful and feasible solutions for ill-defined and complex problems, is being considered as a very important aspect of human functioning. The growing belief that we are entering the „Conceptual Age”, in which creativity will be valued even more, leads to the question of how it can be enhance. Resulting from seeing this ability in an egalitarian way, many training programs were formed, but the knowledge about biological basis and neural mechanisms underlying creative process is fragmentary and rarely taken into consideration. Among scientists there is a consensus that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is mainly responsible for the creativity. The results of studies conducted using functional magnetic resonance technique (fMRI) also indicate differences derived from training and stimulation with e.g. ideas of others in the pattern of brain activity during performance of tasks requiring creative thinking. Thus, the knowledge from neuroscientific area seems to be useful for developing methods that have a potential to enhance the level of creativity.

Keywords: Creativity, Brain Functioning, Neural Correlates, Creativity Enhancement

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100386